The first time I performed this wonderful solo for tenor horn

was in 1986, soon after I joined the New York Philharmonic.

Maestro Leonard Bernstein was conducting,

and our collaboration with him resulted in the creation of

a Deutsche Grammophon recording that was one of

the highlights of my career.

For that recording I played the solo on the tenor tuba,

which is larger than the instrument you are about to hear.

Growing up in the town of Kaliste near an army barrack,

Mahler listened often to the garrison guard

playing in marching parades.

Perhaps that is why Mahler was familiar

with the large array of brass band instruments

beyond the relatively small number we hear

in modern orchestral music.

In this opening haunting solo of Symphony No. 7

Mahler shows the unusual horn sound.

In fact, this is the only time that he composed

anything for the tenor horn.

Mahler selected the tenor horn in his Seventh Symphony

to create an atmosphere of foreboding

that he described during rehearsals as a

tragic night without stars or moonlight.

Underlying this plaintive horn melody is a

strict, almost military, rhythm

that reminds us of a funeral march.

Even the greatest composers have suffered writer's block.

In a letter to his wife, Alma, in the summer of 1905,

Mahler wrote, “I had intended to complete the Seventh Symphony

having completed the two nocturne movements.

For two weeks, I tortured myself to the point of melancholy,

as you must remember, until I ran off to the Dolomites.

Finally, I gave up and went back to the lake

convinced that the summer would be wasted.

I stepped into the boat to be rowed home.

At the first stroke of the oars,

I hit upon the theme, or rather, the rhythm and

the style of the introduction to the first movement,

and within four weeks

the first, third, and fifth movements were completely finished.”

For the performance you are about to hear

I played the solo on a smaller bore horn

called an English baritone.

You may ask, Why the change in instruments

from the time I played it with Maestro Bernstein?

Well, in Mahler's manuscript score

he clearly lists tenor horn but also indicates, “or tenor tuba.”

Tenor horn has several different meanings,

depending where you are in the world.

So it is a bit of a mystery exactly what Mahler wanted.

With the instrument that you will hear, I believe

this is the sound Mahler conceived.

A bit more compact and lighter in sound,

but also more projecting than the tenor tuba.

I look forward to that exciting day

when we can all be reunited on stage.

As this performance makes abundantly clear,

I perform with the finest musicians on the planet.

How I miss making music with each and every one of them.

These broadcasts remind me how happy I have been

spending these past 35 years

as a member of the great New York Philharmonic.